Chris Packham tells LBC the RSPCA is 'propping up the meat and dairy industry' as he quits animal charity

22 December 2024, 11:39 | Updated: 22 December 2024, 12:07

TV presenter Chris Packham has told LBC's Matthew Wright that the RSPCA is "essentially propping up the meat and dairy industry", which spurred his resignation from the animal-welfare charity.

Yesterday it was revealed that Packham, alongside former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas, have stepped down from their roles as president and vice-president of the RSPCA, following allegations of animal cruelty at the charity's approved abattoirs.

He accused the organisation of “legitimising cruelty”.

It comes after an undercover investigation from Animal Rising, which campaigns for a plant-based food system, used hidden cameras to reveal animal cruelty at RSPCA-approved abattoirs.

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The charity runs the RSPCA Assured scheme as a stamp of approval for humane animal farming, intended to drive up industry practices by setting standards above legal requirements.

Speaking to LBC on Sunday morning, Packham said: "I considered it an enormous privilege to ask to be asked to be president of the charity.

"But these farm-assured schemes are not working...and I believe intrinsically, that they can't work.

"For the very simple reason that if you have an assured scheme, and you have the very highest standards of welfare set, then there wouldn't be enough people in that scheme to make it economical or practical to run.

"Therefore you have to set a middling set of standards where you can have a high number of participants and that's where we are at."

He added: "We are in a period of time - whether we like it or not - when we will need to transition away from meat and dairy, to a more plant-based diet and we'll need to do that not necessarily for the animal welfare reasons but for the ecological, environmental and human health reasons.

"And this is something that has been advocated by the United Nations, the climate change committee, the government's own scientists."

"I feel that the RSPCA - a very long-standing, trusted and brilliant organisation - should be leading that transition..rather than essentially propping up the meat and dairy industry."

He went on to say that he was unable to sleep after watching the footage from Animal Rising, and that what they were doing was "clearly criminal" and "illegal".

"The last straw...was the footage in the abattoirs...I need to put an end to that sort of treatment," he said.

"One of the things we were seeking to do was to ask the RSPCA to withdraw from that scheme...and actively campaign to shut that industry down, on the basis of poor welfare.

"This has taken enormous amounts of hand-wringing...I love the charity as I've said," he added.

Previously, Packham, criticised the charity’s response to the videos.

“I believe the charity has lost sight of its mandate to protect all animals from cruelty and suffering,” he said.

In a statement the RSPCA said: “We agree with Chris and Caroline on so many issues and have achieved so much together for animals but we differ on how best to address the incredibly complex and difficult issue of farmed animal welfare.

“We have discussed our work to drive up farmed animal welfare standards openly at length with them on many occasions and it is simply not true that we have not taken urgent action.

"We took allegations of poor welfare incredibly seriously, launching an independent review of 200 farms which concluded that it was ‘operating effectively’ to improve animal welfare.

"We are taking strong steps to improve oversight of welfare, implementing the recommendations in full including significantly increasing unannounced visits, and exploring technology such as body-worn cameras and CCTV, supported by £2m of investment.

“While 94% of people choose to eat meat, fish, eggs and dairy, it is the right thing to do to work with farmers now to improve the lives of animals, while working to transform their lives in future.

"We know shouting from the sidelines doesn’t work, we need to take people with us.

“There is currently little or no legal protection for farmed animals, and very little enforcement.

"RSPCA Assured visit all farms on the scheme every year, but last year just 3% of farms were assessed for animal welfare by state bodies.

"No one else is doing this work; we are the only organisation setting and regularly monitoring animal welfare standards on farms.

"We have pioneered change through RSPCA Assured, which has led to improvements throughout the industry including CCTV in slaughterhouses, banning barren battery cages for hens and sow stalls for pigs, giving salmon more space to swim and developing slower growing chicken breeds who have better quality of life.”